Tags

Total Regret Live: Carson Daly Says Gays Aren’t Brave Enough to Stop Crazy Pilot

Posted by on Mar 29, 2012 in Real Talk | 29 comments

Carson Daly talked himself right into a PR disaster while discussing the crazed JetBlue pilot who needed to be forcibly restrained by passengers earlier in the week.

Daly credited the flight’s brawny passengers with saving the day, but worried that with his luck, the plane would be full of gays en route to Pride in San Francisco or a floral convention in Las Vegas.

Said Daly:

“Most of the people were on their way to some sort of security conference in Las Vegas … it was like a bunch of dudes and well trained dudes … thank god.”

He laughingly continued, “With my luck, it would be like … ‘this is the flight going to [the gay pride parade] in San Francisco … I mean, that would be my colleagues.”

Then, changing his voice to sound like a gay stereotype, Carson said, “Uh, we’re headed down to Vegas for the floral convention.”

He’s already apologized twice, but the criticism continues to pour in. Most notably from Alice Hoagland, the mother of gay 9/11 hero/victim Mark Bingham.

“Yes, my gay son was known in our family for bringing me flowers on my birthday and Mother’s Day.  He also was known for careening down the rugby pitch, and, on the morning of September 11, 2001, for charging unarmed down the aisle of a doomed Boeing 757 to face knife-wielding Islamist thugs in a hijacked cockpit.”

She adds, “No one among his pick-up team of fellow passengers was asking ‘Are you straight?  Are you gay?’  No one doubted that a guy who weighed 220 and stood 6’4” tall – who could run over a charging opponent on the field, and ran with the bulls in Pamplona earlier that summer – would be an asset to a desperate group trying to overcome a threat onboard an airliner.”

“The world has its share of strong, heroic gay men. Gay men in sports uniforms and military uniforms have been winning America’s games and fighting America’s battles for a long time: quietly, humbly, and in the face of vicious bigotry.”

“I hope you and I may have an opportunity to talk sometime.  I prefer to believe you didn’t mean to offend. Good luck to you.”

BAM!

Real talk, I had the brief pleasure of meeting Carson Daly back in the TRL day, and he struck me as a genuinely nice guy. We’re talking about a man that kicks it with Christina Aguilera professionally, kept all of the gay boyband members’ secrets safe for a decade before they bagan to trickle out on their own, and is an unflinching supporter of all the LGBT powerhouse contestants on The Voice.

I do personally believe that Daly doesn’t have a homophobic bone in his body. With that said, this was a boneheaded thing to say.

Are you willing to forgive Carson for his remarks?

(via TMZ, photo c/o JD Lasica/Socialmedia.biz)